In an interview with Hayern Aysor, Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of Sweden and President of the Coordinating Center of Armenian Associations of Sweden Arshak Gavafian recapped the activities carried out in 2016 and targeted at not only recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but also support to Artsakh, Syrian-Armenians and the Armenians of Javakhk.

Hayern Aysor: Mr. Gavafian, how can we sum up the activities that the Armenian National Committee of Sweden carried out throughout 2016? What were the strategy and target programs of the Committee?

Arshak Gavafian: Recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, Artsakh’s independence, acknowledge of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination, adoption and implementation of a policy suppressing Azerbaijan lie at the core of our general objectives, regardless of what we demand from a particular country. The fight for the rights of the Armenians of Javakhk and the support to Syrian-Armenians in Syria and Sweden are also on our agenda.

For us Armenians, Sweden is a major country in Northern Europe. So, we are trying to have multilateral cooperation with Sweden in order to strengthen the bilateral ties between Sweden and Armenia.

Well, of course, the Armenian National Committee of Sweden is consistent with the Swedish government’s ultimate solution to the issue of the Armenian Genocide. Whereas we were only demanding recognition, now we are also demanding restitution since recognition is not enough.

As we know, in 2010, the Parliament of Sweden acknowledged the xenophobic atrocities of the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians, Assyrians, Jews and Chalcedonians as Genocide. However, the government remained inactive, and we protested. Since the current Armenian National Committee of Sweden had not been established at the time, we fought with the local national and community organizations.

According to the Swedish Constitution, if a particular issue is related to foreign affairs, the government is free to make its own decisions. In 2016, we made efforts to have the government not only recognize, but also take action by carrying out large-scale activities. For instance, we made efforts to have Genocide be taught as a subject in school and solve other issues.

We worked on this with Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Sweden Artak Apitonyan.

When a new parliament and cabinet were formed in Sweden in late 2015, power was under the coalition of the Social-Democrats and The Greens, which had voted in favor of recognition of the Armenian Genocide in parliament in 2010.

During their election campaign, the Social-Democrats, which are the major political party of the governmental coalition, had declared that if elected, they would have the Armenian Genocide Resolution passed by the government.

However, after the Social-Democrats’ election, we realized that they were avoiding fulfilling their pledge. After our and the other organizations’ claims, the Minister of Foreign Affairs declared that the government would establish a committee to examine the issue of the Armenian Genocide. I wrote a letter on behalf of the Armenian National Committee stating once again that there was no need to examine the issue again since the parliament had adopted a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide five years ago.

In response, we were told that the issue had to be examined from the social and political perspectives. Months later, the committee submitted an overall and indefinite report that had nothing to do with direct recognition or denial of the Armenian Genocide. After that, we decided to have a meeting with the political consultant of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Margot Wallström .

We told her about the efforts that we had made for recognition of the Armenian Genocide. As a source of information, we submitted books and told her that we would like to have a meeting with the Minister. We are still waiting for her response.

I must also mention that we have decided to present our demands during the annual general assembly of the Social-Democrats in Spring 2017. We have already had a meeting with the Social-Democrats’ deputy secretary and a Member of Parliament. Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of Europe Kaspar Garabedian and activities coordinator Heghine Evinian also participated in the meeting.

In regard to the Armenian Genocide, I must also add that in 2016, representatives of the Armenian National Committee of Sweden, the Coordinating Center of Armenian Associations of Sweden and the Armenian Apostolic Church had a meeting with the ambassadors of the countries having recognized the Armenian Genocide in Sweden and expressed our gratitude by granting certificates of appreciation to them.

Hayern Aysor: The year 2016 was a difficult and turning year for Armenia and Artsakh, and it is assumed that the Committee didn’t only focus on recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Can you indicate the steps that you took for Artsakh?

Arshak Gavafian: The issue of Artsakh is always in our focus. We try to present Azerbaijan’s unruly policy against Artsakh in Sweden and other countries by various means.

We have sent letters of protest and letters and statements calling for alertness to the government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other corresponding bodies, informing them that, if necessary, they need to exert pressure on Azerbaijan so that it rejects its policy of provocation.

In February 2016, the Armenian National Committee of Sweden and the Coordinating Center of Armenian Associations of Sweden hosted a meeting with members of the Sweden-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group, which is a working group composed of members of all the political parties represented in the Parliament of Sweden. This meeting was also aimed at speaking the truth about Baku’s aggression in order to try to restrain Azerbaijan’s aggression through their political parties.

Besides, on different occasions, especially after the Four-Day Artsakh War in April, we addressed more letters and statements to the government so that they could intervene, prevent and disallow such provocations. The Armenian National Committee of Sweden, the Coordinating Center of Armenian Associations of Sweden and the Armenian Apostolic Chuch organized protest marches and held negotiations in defense of Artsakh.

We also carried out another initiative when the report on the Sarsang reservoir of Nagorno-Karabakh was included in the agenda for the session of the Committee on Social, Healthcare and Sustainable Development Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The reporter was pro-Turkish delegate of Bosnia & Herzegovina to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Milica Markovic, whose report was entitled “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water”.

At the same time, the MP’s position was that she was condemning Azerbaijan’s actions. In other words, Azerbaijan had entered into a double game against Artsakh.

Under the leadership of Kaspar Garabedian, the Armenian National Committees of Europe started working on this with the parliaments of their respective countries, urging them not to give in to the bait that Azerbaijan was “serving”.

We participated in the voting for the report entitled “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, which was simply against Artsakh and in favor of Azerbaijan.

These issues were considered at the same time, and thanks to the efforts of the Armenian National Committee, the voting for the second report was in our favor. We contacted Swedish delegates to the PACE in Sweden, and thanks to our explanations, everyone voted for us. The author of that report was pro-Turkish British delegate Robert Walter.

Hayern Aysor: The Armenian National Committee of Sweden was making efforts to have the Armenian Genocide be taught as a subject in Swedish schools. How is this issue being solved?

Arshak Gavafian: In this regard, we have two paths to choose. We can either submit a resolution to the parliament for ratification or negotiate with a managing institution of schools that is not part of the government. We want to be certain that we will succeed. We are currently discussing the issue so that we can take the right steps to achieve the desired outcome. Our ultimate goal is to have the Armenian Genocide be taught as a mandatory subject in Swedish schools. For that purpose, we are preparing to submit a proposal to the parliament.

As a matter of fact, Swedish textbooks feature information about not only the Armenian Genocide, but also the genocides against other nations. The pages of those textbooks are called “pink pages”, meaning they are not mandatory.

Hayern Aysor: I think the fact that the Swedish court viewed the anti-Armenian statements of Vice-President of the Swedish-Turkish Association Barbaros Leilani as a criminal offense was one of the major achievements of the Armenian National Committee of Sweden and the Armenian community of Sweden in general in the year 2016. How did you achieve this victory?

Arshak Gavafian: When Barbaros Leilani made those statements, the Armenian National Committee of Sweden, the Coordinating Center of Armenian Associations of Sweden, as well as several organizations and individuals contacted the police and told them that Leilani’s behavior posed a threat to the Armenian nation, particularly the Armenian community of Sweden.

We sent over 50 notices to the prosecutor, and this eventually led to a trial. There is a paragraph in the Swedish legislation according to which such public threats shall be considered a grave criminal offense.

Unfortunately, the prosecutor presented a moderate claim in court, and the judge gave a moderate punishment. However, the court did consider Barbaros Leilani’s assaults a criminal offence and demanded two years of conditional imprisonment and a 40-day fine.

We were only in the courtroom as an audience. In an interview with a Swedish radio station right after the trial, I said that the crime was considered a grave crime, in which case, according to Swedish legislation, the punishment is imprisonment for six months and up to four years. Now we will try to appeal again or not accept the prosecutor’s decision.

If necessary, we won’t hesitate to file a lawsuit through an Armenian lawyer. We have already held a meeting with the lawyer and Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Sweden Artak Apitonyan.

We have also examined the issue with the members of the board of the Coordinating Center of Armenian Associations of Sweden, and if another lawsuit is filed, the Swedish-Armenian community and community organizations will also be able to participate in the trial.

Hayern Aysor: Mr. Gavafian, the RA Ministry of Diaspora has declared the year 2017 as the Year of Artsakh. The “What are YOU doing for Karabakh” pan-Armenian movement (launched during the 8^th Pan-Armenian Forum of Journalists held in Yerevan and Stepanakert on 20-24 October 2016) is also in progress. What kinds of initiatives do you think can be carried out in this direction?

Arshak Gavafian: I am aware that the RA Ministry of Diaspora is carrying out that initiative. In my opinion, such movements are in our national interests and show the unity and collective force of the Armenian nation.

Let’s hope the pan-Armenia movement truly serves its goal and Diaspora Armenian individuals and community organizations show active participation.

The Armenians of Sweden always stand by the side of Artsakh. After the events that took place in April 2016, the members of the community quickly combined their efforts and held a fundraiser to support Artsakh. During those days, the Armenian National Committee of Sweden, the Coordinating Center of Armenian Associations of Sweden, the councils of the Armenian Churches in Sweden and the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia made great efforts.

Overall, I highly appreciate our cooperation with the RA Ministry of Diaspora. The efforts of the RA Ministry of Diaspora aimed at enhancing Armenia-Diaspora relations deserve appraisal.

During her visit to Sweden in 2015, Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan had a private meeting with members of the Armenian National Committee. We presented our programs and held beneficial discussions on seeking paths for future cooperation. I had another meeting with the Minister during my visit to Armenia in the summer of 2016.

In 2016, upon the proposal of the RA Ministry of Diaspora, the Embassy and the board of the Coordinating Center of Armenian Associations of Sweden hosted a teleconference with the RA Ministry of Diaspora. Besides discussing various issues, we also agreed on having the members of the Armenian community of Sweden show more active participation in the summer programs of the Ministry.

Interview by Gevorg Chichyan